So This Is Christmas
by Nobdy'sMelody
Summary: As a present to my friend, this is a sotry about a family's Christmas day. A man named Cloud observes his four sons- Neku, Roxas, Ventus, and Sora -as they celebrate their favorite holiday. :


**Okay, so this is a Christmas present for my friend Ashley, because she wants to think about what it would be like if Neku, Sora, Roxas, and Ventus were brothers- with Cloud as their dad -on Christmas. **

**It's not very long at all. It's a **_**very **_**short**** story, just a bit of fun we were having in class. No one has to read it, review it, anything, even though I would love it if you did. This is just me, getting in the Christmas spirit and writing a story for my friend since I ran out of money.**

**I don't own Kingdom Hearts, nor The World Ends With You.**

**So, Merry Christmas, Ashley. I hope you like it.**

Cloud POV

The boys have gone wild.

They're surrounding the tree, grabbing presents and claiming "Mine" without even looking at the tag. Sora seems to be building a fort of presents around himself, but Ven is taking wrapped boxes from the wall as fast as Sora can stack them. _"Hey, give that back!" "You're an idiot- it's obviously mine!" "That big one's mine!"_

"SHUT IT!" God, I need coffee before I yell. My wife passes me a steaming cup.

The boys stop, turn to stare at me.

"You're not five years old," I tell them. "If you're going to act like little kids, you'll be treated like little kids. Each of you sit in separate places. I'll pass out your presents."

"I'll be sure to make you guys a card or something," Roxas taunts his brothers, "you know, so you won't feel left out. All of those presents are clearly for me."

I glare. "If you act like a smart-ass, you get nothing."

He sits down quietly.

I pass out the presents, slowly and carefully. It's killing Sora, but Neku doesn't seem to care too much, wrapped up in a blanket, his face buried in a cup of steaming coffee. Ven scratches his nose, eyes wide like he's been up for hours. "Okay," I finally say, "go."

A flurry of wrapping-paper-turning-confetti rains down on us. This is the boys' favorite part of Christmas. Their happy cries echo through the room. "Ohholymotherofgod, you _didn't!" _"Yes! Yes! Yes!" "This is the best day of my life!" The only one who hasn't touched anything is Neku.

His pile is smaller than everyone else's. He looks at me with his calm- always so calm- eyes. I gesture to the presents. His skinny arm comes out from under his blanket and he picks up a little box. _To Phones, love from Beat & Rhyme_ is scrawled in a combination of messy and neat script. The corner of his mouth quirks up and he opens it with extra care not to rip the paper.

"Oh my GOD!" Sora shrieks, jumping up and fixing the necklace he received from Kairi around his neck. The heavy gold crown pendent hits his collarbone. He's grinning like mad- the girl he's obsessed with gave him a present.

Neku is placing the Bito's present to the side- I see it was some kind of CD -and picking up another. It's wrapped in bright pink paper and I know it's from his friend Shiki. Or maybe Joshua. Either one. He holds up a shirt, one that says _Cool story, bro._ He shakes his head with a smile.

"You're kidding me!" Roxas squeaks, stealing my attention. He stares at me with big blue eyes, then glances down at his present. He rips the rest of the wrapping paper off and I realize it's the guitar we got him. "This is…the coolest thing ever!"

I smile at him. When I turn back to Neku, he has opened two more presents, moving on to the ones from his family. He grins at the iTunes gift card from Roxas, the headphones from Sora and Ven. He shows off his white teeth in a smile when he unwraps the new iPod from us. "Thanks," he says, quietly.

Ven has pulled a panda-shaped hat over his golden hair, already buried in the new book about Struggle we bought him. Roxas has abandoned his pile, new skateboard balanced precariously on top, and begins to strums his guitar. Sora tells him to play a Christmas song. Roxas tells him to shut up.

Neku looks at me with a weak smile, amused by his brothers.

"Merry Christmas."

* * *

><p>We're all in the car on the way to my parent's, a Christmas ritual.<p>

All four boys are smushed together in the back, arms and elbows pressed tight. They're not as little as they sued to be.

Besides the occasional "stop elbowing me, dickhead," or "stop humming so loud, dumbass," the boys are quiet. They all have their headphones in, completely disconnected from the world. I look back at a stoplight. Sora has his forehead pressed against the glass, looking like a depressed protagonist in a teen movie. Roxas' eyes are closed- if not for the fact that he's bobbing his head to some beat, he could be sleeping - and his guitar case is held between his legs.

Ven is next to Roxas, their matching wristbands touching- one with white trim, one with black -and it reminds me of the time when they were little and we thought dressing them alike was cute. Neku is texting someone, probably a friend- and I'm oh-so glad he finally has some.

I ntoice that they're getting too big to all fit in the backseat, but what did I really expect? They're not little kids anymore, even if I wish they were.

_Roxas is poking Sora's arm, has been for the past ten minutes. Finally, my youngest son snaps._

"_Roxas, stop!"_

_Roxas mimics him, "Roxas, stop!"_

"_Stop it!"_

"_Stop it!"_

_I roll my eyes from the front seat._

"_Roxas!"_

"_Roxas!"_

"_I hate you!"_

"_I hate you!"_

"_Dad," Ven complains. "Sora is saying everything Roxas says before he says it." He pauses and grins. "Can he see the future?"_

"_No," Neku tells him, voice sharp. "Roxas, stop doing that."_

"_Yeah!" Sora supports Neku's order._

"_Yeah!" Roxas echoes._

"_Boys," I growl, "I will turn this car around."_

"_No, you won't," Neku mutters. "It's Christmas."_

"_I'll take all your damn presents back to the store!"_

_They're silent, then explode with "Mom! Dad said 'damn'!"_

_I bang my head against the steering wheel. The light turns green and I press on the gas._

_Five minutes later, I hear Roxas: "Sora, stop poking me."_

_My youngest son echoes: "Sora, stop poking me."_

On the other hand, maybe I prefer them this way.

* * *

><p>Christmas is just like Thanksgiving. After we get home from my parents' house, everyone comes to our house, brings all of their kids and their friends and we have a huge dinner and then all the adults get drunk. We're all friends because our kids are friends.<p>

The kids disappear- Sora, Riku, and Kairi into his room, Neku and his friends out onto the porch, Ven, Terra, and Aqua to his room, and Roxas and his friends to the backyard. We adults don't worry about leaving them alone because each group has it's own personal HMC- Human Moral Compass.

I'm probably one of the only adults here that isn't drunk. We lost Namine's father, Luxlord, to the bottle a few hours ago- he's been passed out in front of the bathroom. Great example for the children, eh?

Looking out the front window, I spy on Neku and his friends. It's nice to see him with friends. He used to be such a loner. Now he has Joshua- a scrawny, sarcastic boy -and Shiki- a girl with pink hair -talking to him. I've never asked whether her hair is from a bottle or not- because (a) it'd be rude and (b) I don't care.

I know I should check on Roxas instead. He's the trouble-maker, the one who's been brought home by the cops numerous times for God knows what. I act on impulse and go to the back of the house, spying on Roxas and his friends, unashamed.

His friends look like one of two things- druggies or gang members. They all have one thing in common, though. They all look dangerous. Larxene looks like she could snap a full grown man in half. Axel has a maniac fire in his eyes, something that makes me feel like he enjoys the smell of burning flesh.

Anyway, they're all passing a bottle around- turned down only by sweet Namine, who really has no place in the group other than being Roxas' girlfriend -and I know I should probably stop them because I know it's not sparkling cider.

Just as I'm about to, Sora and Riku come tumbling down the stairs, rolling down and crashing into a table, knocking over a priceless vase. The smashing glass is heard through the entire house and everyone stops to stare. Kairi runs down after them- "oh, my God, are you okay?" -and I stare as the back door and the front door open.

"What happened?" Roxas asks. Sora looks up at me from the floor and I see the little boy who trailed after his older brothers. He holds his hand, which I now notice is bleeding. His lip is trembling like he wants to cry.

"Are you alright?" Joshua grabs his little brother's arm- though who would ever think Riku was the little brother is beyond me. Riku shrugs him off and stands, unscathed. He turns to Sora:

"We're perfectly fine, right, Sor-?"

He realizes at the same time I do that there is a large piece of that priceless vase wedged into Sora's hand. We both realize that Sora is trying not to cry, if only because everyone is staring at him. "Y-yeah," Sora stands. "I'm fine."

Kairi gasps, "Oh, your hand!" and everyone else gasps, too, like this is a new development.

"This?" Sora shrugs. "It's nothing." His eyes are watering.

"I've gone to the hospital for less than that," Terra comments from the stairs where he stand with Ven and Aqua.

"That ain't a minor cut, kid," Axel smirks.

"It…it doesn't even hurt," Sora tries.

"You should really go to the hospital," Rhyme insists, hugging her brother's arm like she's glad he's not the one with glass wedged into his large hand.

"I'm taking you to the hospital," I insist, grabbing my jacket. "Roxas," I turn to my other sons, "get his jacket for me. Ven, make sure everyone gets a ride home…a _safe_ ride home. Neku, clean up and make sure Ven does as he's told." I sound like an army official and they take me seriously, running off on my orders. "Let's go," I nudge Sora towards the door, grabbing his coat from Roxas.

"Be sure to tell them you're a friend of mine," Demyx yells out, "they'll get you a doctor real fast."

We're in the car, driving, and Sora's trying to apologize, but I tell him to shut up. We walk into the ER and I fill out paper as a doctor takes Sora away. When they come back, Sora's hand is bandaged and he smiling weakly. The doctor tells me we're free to leave, hands me pain meds for Sora. He gives me a big grin, "Merry Christmas."

When we get home, all the guests are gone except Namine, who is trying to convince her father to get into a cab. She smiles slightly, embarrassed for her father as he drops heavily into the backseat. I nod in understanding. Roxas gives her a quick goodbye kiss and she's off and away with a quiet, "Merry Christmas."

We go inside and everything's clean, Ven and Neku did a fine job. We all sit in the living room and the boys play with their new toys. Sora plays his PSP one-handedly, Roxas strums a few cords. Ven buries his face in a book. Neku blocks out the world with his headphones.

"I'm going to bed," I announce, standing up. The nod, they've heard me, and I understand the silent agreement that they'll go to bed soon.

I'm just about out of the room when I'm stopped with a "Dad?" I turn and they're all smiling at me. "Merry Christmas."

I nod, give them a slight smile, and make my way up the stairs.

**So, that's it. My little Christmas One-Shot. For Ashley. I hope she liked it. : )**

**There's not much to this, I know, but it's not meant to be long, just a short, funny story about a crazy family at Christmas.**

**I hope every one enjoyed it. Christmas is my favorite time of year and I'm glad I could get this out. **

**Merry Christmas, Ashley!**

**Happy Holidays, everybody!**


End file.
